Political Derailment
The Democratic nominee for Tennessee governor wants to electrocute incumbent Bill Haslam
Politics are weird.
In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Haslam easily locked up a Republican party nomination in his quest for a second term, winning more than 88 percent of the primary vote.
His Democratic challenger on the November ballot, though?
That appears to be an Oakdale resident named Charles V. "Charlie" Brown, who likely benefited from his famous name and top-billing on the Democratic ballot. The Tennessean reported that Brown defeated three other challengers for the Democratic nomination.
Brown is a unique sort of politician. He has reported raising a grand total of zero dollars for his campaign through this week's primary election. He has ignored all interview requests so far. And his Facebook page announcing the campaign misspells his first name as "Chrles." Oh, he would also like to electrocute Bill Haslam.
The Washington Post obtained a screenshot of the "Letter to the Editor" that Brown submitted to the Blount County Democratic Party instead of the usual candidate questionnaire. It's worth a full read, for sure, but Brown's first two sentences set the tone:
"I under stand that the governor has reinstated the electric chair to take care of the prison on death row," Brown's letter reads. "After what he has done to my friends in Knox County, I would like to strap his butt to the chair and give him about half the jolt."
Democrats can rest assured that Brown seems to be a measured sort of man, settling for half the jolt. This will be one to watch come November.